Cannon Trawets
Cannon Trawets Ship: Airship 67 Title: Captain Age: 146 Race: Human with a touch of Apache Indian Homeworld: A-23 Aperture Reality Hometown: Borger, TX Date of Birth: 4 October 1865 Appointments: SCARS Regional Commander of Mississippi Ranger Captain, Texian Rangers Personality Cannon is more of a loner than anything. He is quiet, reserved, and observant. In a crowd, he will stand back and watch everyone, only interacting when the time is right. He usually has a strange device that captures a copy of the souls of anyone he points it at, allowing him to return to that point in time when ever he pleases. This device is known as the Time Freeze. Though he is a loner, he interacts well with his crew and close aquaintances. If crossed, he will lash out with force so strong the victim will likely not know until it is too late. He was well trained in military strategy and procedures during the time he was pressed into service with the Order. If he decideds to attack, you will most likely not see it coming. A bit secretive in nature and gathers intelligence before he acts. Biography Cannon was born in a small Texas town back in the mid 1800s. As a child, he learned the basics of survival on a farm from his family. During his 8th year, he was taken from his family by a group known as the Order. Cannon had an old weapon in his possession that the Order needed to fulfill world domination with. With this weapon, the Order proceeded to take over town after town in the future world. Cannon vowed to learn all he could about the Order and one day he would defeat their plan. Many years passed before Cannon escaped to a time 100 years from the time he was taken from his family. He brought his new family with him and while getting settled in, met the crew of the Isabella. Through them, he learned what he would need to survive in the new time. Cannon's dream of being a Captain of his own ship came to be the day he found an old, abandoned ship. He set to work putting it back together, with his family's help. His crew was born and they have been flying the skies of the region known as Mississippi since. Cannon and his crew continue to learn as much as possible and pass that information on to everyone who will listen. Early Life New Beginnings The first memory Cannon had as a child was finding what appeared to be a pistol buried under the porch of the house he was born in back in 1865. As he cleaned the dirt from around the object, it began to hum and became warm to the touch. At the tender age of 4, he thought nothing of the peculiarities, just that it was different, and something no one else had. He kept it hidden in the darkness of his clothing trunk for many years. After a few years, Cannon was rummaging around in his trunk and came across the pistol like item. He had forgotten it was there over the years and his interest in it was renewed. He took it out to the field to see if he could figure out what it was. The sun was bright that day and Cannon found himself in a different light. Things seemed normal, but he could sense something unusual in the air. As he looked the item over, he saw several marks that were similar, but unfamiliar to him. One of the marks had the initial "O" in the center. He wondered if this was the mark of the original owner. As the day progressed, Cannon lost interest in the item. He couldn't figure out how to make it fire, or even do anything for that matter. He laid it against a fence post and went about his plowing. Just before lunch, he noticed a glow coming from the fence post where he left the item, thinking it was just the sun reflecting off the surface of the item, he continued to plow. Mere minutes had passed when a bright flash of light, brighter than any lightening Cannon had ever seen, followed by a darkness, similar to that of an eclipse, that engulfed the field. Cannon looked all around to see what might be happening. He looked up and saw the strangest sight he had ever witnessed. A large, cloth like balloon was hovering in the air above him, with a whistling noise coming from what looked like a sailing ship below the balloon. It wasn't long before he saw people being lowered down long ropes that hung from the sides of the ship. Cannon stood there fascinated by the sight, unable to move. The men made contact with the ground, had a quick look around and made straight for the object Cannon had leaned against the fence post. Cannon was almost in a direct line between the men and the object. They surely saw him standing there as one said to another, "Grab the boy, we don't need any witnesses!" With that, Cannon was scooped up into the arms of a burly man and whisked off to the flying ship. The other men grabbed the object and returned to the ship as well. When Cannon awoke, all he remembered was another bright flash of light, the feeling of moving forward at a rapid pace, and the whoosh of air on his face. As he looked around, there were people scurrying everywhere on the deck. He heard someone mention they were about to dock at the aerodrome. He stood, lost his footing a couple of times, and then righted himself as he got the feel for the movement of the ship under his feet. He was shocked when he moved to the edge of the deck, expecting to see water, instead, only the clear blue sky all around the ship. They were flying through the air like a bird. He saw puffs of smoke coming from the rear of the ship and big windmills turning to the sides. They seemed to be pushing the ship through the air. Many people hardly notice 10 year olds as they go about their daily tasks, and this was no exception. Cannon almost had free rein of the ship. He was able to move from one point to another without anyone saying a word, or even noticing him, or so he thought. As the ship came closer to what looked like a dock on the ocean, the crew got really busy, and then all of a sudden, everything stopped. A hand grabbed Cannon by the arm and said, "Come with me boy." And lead him off the ship down to a large open field. In the distance, he could see what looked like a town, but it was different from anything he had ever seen. The man holding his arm explained that they had traveled through time to the same location that Cannon had been in his present day life. It was hard for Cannon to understand what was going on. As the old gentleman kept talking, he explained that Cannon had found an artifact that the Order had been looking for many years. It wasn't until the item had been placed in the sun for a long period of time that they were able to track it down and recover it. The high council of the Order wanted to see the boy who held the artifact for the many years they had been searching. The meeting was uneventful. Cannon kept quiet and listened to everything that was said. He knew deep down that he had to get away from the group known as the Order. They spoke of violence, servitude, and many unspeakable acts that Cannon wanted no part of. He was sent to live with a middle class family as a reward for protecting the artifact for so many years. He didn't see it as reward and only wanted to return to his original home. After a few years, Cannon had almost forgotten about home. He was 200 years in the future of where he was taken from. It was a hard adjustment for him. He managed to occupy his time with a box that captured images. The modern people called it a camera. Cannon always thought he could capture time in an image and return to that place in time whenever he wanted. As he learned all he could about capturing images, he also learned how to build things. He spent many years as a carpenter and tried his best to learn about everything he could. He dabbled with blacksmithing, leather, anything that was from his old time that he remembered seeing family work on or with. He even taught himself as much as he could about the steam engines and machines used in the current time. Steam engines were just starting to be used in his old time. He longed to return home one day. When Cannon came of age, he was pressed into military service. He wasn't completely against it, but under the circumstances, he did what he had to do. Cannon took the opportunity to learn all he could about the way the Order worked, and to find the holes he needed to get away from them. The days turned to months and years as Cannon went through life. He finally saw an opportunity to split from the Order and go his own way. He knew once he left, he would be labeled a traitor, and hunted for the rest of his life. It was worth it to him; he had met a nice young lady just before he was pressed into service. They married shortly after and did the best they could to have a happy life and family. With a wife and two daughters, he had to be extremely careful about his plans to split from the Order. Cannon had many contacts from his military and carpentry friends, many of which thought the same about the Order as Cannon. One of his contacts knew a mercenary band that would be willing to take Cannon and his family to a different time for the right price. Cannon offered his services as a recorder for a portion of his fee, only he had to travel with the crew for several months before they would come back for his family and take them to a new beginning. Cannon had been lost for what seemed like years, the spark had left him long ago. The crew he was with had deceived him. He had gotten into a steady routine and each day passed just as the one before it. He had almost given up on getting back to his family when he saw a familiar sight on the horizon, the aerodrome in the city his family was in. He managed to slip away once the ship had docked. His first priority was to locate his family. He stopped by a couple of places where he knew several people and began asking about where his family was. He learned that after he departed, they stayed with the family he had been assigned many years ago. After a few months, they sought out a place of their own and ended up setting up a small camp in the forest, due to the harassment by the Order. TheOrder wanted to know where Cannon had gone. One of Cannon's old carpenter friends knew just where they were. The friend lead Cannon to the camp and a joyous reunion took place. He vowed to never leave them again. While hunting in the woods one day, Cannon happened across a band of men who seemed to be cordial and honest. He was leery of approaching them at first, as he had been deceived by so many others in the past. They saw him in the distance and proceeded to greet him with well wishes. A conversation was struck between the group and Cannon, where he learned they were a merchant crew on their way to a market of sorts. At the mention of the Order by one of the crew, the Captain's face soured and a look of cold, bloody, rage emanated toward the man. In the Captain's ranting, Cannon realized the Order had boarded his ship many times and took all of his wares. He was not going to let it happen again. He had armed his ship and was prepared to travel to a different time for good. Cannon saw this as possibly his last chance to get his family out of harm’s way. He curiously questioned the Captain about where he might be going and if he had room to spare for passengers. The Captain was leery up front, but relaxed about the idea as Cannon continued to speak of how the Order had took him from his world and brought him here. This did not set well with the Captain, so he was reluctant, but agreed to let Cannon and his family travel with them. They agreed to meet at sunrise the next morning for the trip. Cannon returned to the camp and told his family of the plans. They were unsure of everything, but agreed they had to get away from the Order. They set about the task at hand and began gathering and packing only the necessities. As the sun began its climb to the sky the next morning, Cannon and his family broke through the trees into the clearing where the Captain's ship was docked. The ship was nothing impressive, just an ordinary merchant vessel. The guns were well hidden underneath the barrels and boxes on the deck. Cannon and his family were shown to meager quarters and treated with dignity not seen in the past. It was a strange feeling for Cannon. The ship departed as scheduled. The Captain had Cannon with him and was explaining that he would leave the area just as any other merchant vessel would to keep from drawing attention. While standing at the helm, the Captain pointed out a small box on the pedestal where the compass was located. "In that box contains the controls to move us through time, undetected." Cannon thought back to the day he was taken, the bright light, wind in his face, it all sent chills down his spine. As they drifted out of sight of the city, the Captain opened the box and indicated that it was time to make the "jump", as he pressed a button and turned a dial. The ship lurched forward, steadily gaining speed as if powered by a white squall. Streaks of light started to form on the sails and the masts. The light resembled bolts of lightning and static discharge. Suddenly, the light glowed bright and the ship disappeared into a smooth, fluid like body. The air was still and dark, not a sound was heard, only the sight of streaks of light here and there. Cannon saw the Captain move to the control box out the corner of his eye, another turn of the dial and press of the button and the process seemed to reverse itself. The sound slowly returned, the flashes of light went from rapid to gradually slower streaks, and the ship slowed down to a normal speed. "We're here!" the Captain explained. Cannon could see over the edge of the ship an older looking town, eerily similar to the one they just left. The Captain could sense the confusion in Cannon's face. He explained that the town was the same they had just left, but 100 years earlier that that time. The Order had not over taken the town yet, that would happen in another 60 years. The Captains knowledge of events interested Cannon, he had to learn more. As the ship docked, they talked about current, future and past events for quite some time. Cannon absorbed as much knowledge as he could in the amount of time they had. The ship had finished unloading its goods and the Captain was preparing for his next trip when he told Cannon that he would be leaving them here. Cannon was not unhappy about the thought, just overwhelmed at the possibilities and uncertainties. The family decided to visit the local market to get the feel for the area. Cannon began to capture images of everything going on. Everyone was friendly and receptive, which put Cannon at ease with his surroundings. They met many different people that day, an illustrator, several craftsmen, an ambassador, a Sky Captain, his navigator, and several others. Many questions were asked and answered. Everyone in the Sky Captains party was very helpful with information of how to make items that would be needed during their stay in this time period. Cannon knew he had finally found his place. It wasn't the home he was born in, but it was as close to home as he had been in many years. His next task was to outfit his family and raise a crew. He had plans to pilot his own ship one day. Notes Stories and articles. Unexpected Adventure - 17 JAN 2012